Underwater Lovers
by Kuugen the Fox
Summary: Hachi and Iku discover that their feelings for each other are more of a mutual thing than they thought. [Pa-treon Request]


Soaking in the hot waters of the bath, Hachi was about to be bored out of her mind. "Hah… I can't believe I got hit so hard by that Wasserbombe."

"It happens, it happens." Shioi was there as well, sitting a few meters away in the large bath. "We're just lucky the Admiral had us retreat. You were **so** close to sinking. One more hit and you would be an eternal submarine."

"You should not say ominous things like that." Hachi was glad that she, as a submarine, was not going to be confined to the baths for nearly as long as light cruisers or even heavier ships. If a battleship had taken a hit like that, they would have spent close to a day in the bath without recovery boosting lotion.

"Why were you even with us? I thought it was supposed to be Iku, Yuu and me. The Admiral was fuming when she heard you took heavy damage when you were supposed to be at base." Shioi was just half submerged, her arms out of the bath, on the stone floor, and her head resting on her arms.

Hachi on the other hand was submerged to her neck, facing the wall in one of the intensive repair baths. She didn't really want to see Shioi's face right now. Or anyone's face. She was a little angry with Iku, but she could never really be angry with her for long. Everyone had days like that. And this happened all the time. A ship felt down and didn't want to sortie so someone else took over. Just in this case, it was because Iku had greedily overeaten. Goya and Imuya had been _occupied_ and were still recovering from being _occupied_ with their _activities_. Letting out a sigh she meant to keep hidden, Hachi hoped the next 90 minutes would go by a lot quicker than she anticipated they would.

"Did Iku ask you to sub in?" Shioi waited for an answer and then realized her pun. "Oh, that was not intentional! _Sub_ in, you know!"

"Iku couldn't go, so I went. It's nothing new. Goya subs in for Yuu all the time and you and Imuya do, too."

"Yeah, but Goya is dating Yuu and I'm dating Imuya. You and Iku aren't like that."

 _Yeah, we're not. I wonder why? Iku just sort of… annoys me sometimes. She's a good girl, but a bit of a dimwit and she lacks a bit of a professional ship girl work ethnic. If only she actually tried harder, she could do a lot better. She could be a role model for us others if she wasn't slacking off whenever she could. I understand wanting to take it easy, especially if our schedule says Orel Cruising_ _again, but we're still doing an important job. I wish she wouldn't squander her potential. She's sexy, too, while most of the others are just cute. Although Yuu has more of a cool vibe going than anything else._

"You're doing that thing again where you think a lot of thoughts and don't say anything back." Shioi had known Hachi for long enough now to sense when she was doing that.

"Iku and I aren't dating but that doesn't mean we can't cover each other since the rest of the submarines seem to have paired up all on their own."

"Wow, that felt like a stab at the rest of us. It's not like we're forcing you to cover for her, you know?"

"You're not, but who else is going to cover for her? I don't mind, so I would appreciate it if you could stop reading things into my words that aren't there." Hachi was just generally in a bad mood. She was one of the luckier submarines and still she got hit by a depth charge right in the face. A one in a million lucky hit. _Iku could probably have dodged it_. She had a lot of respect for Iku's skill and destructive capabilities, even if she wasn't really lucky.

Shioi sighed. There really wasn't any reason to keep arguing with Hachi over Iku. _You're **so** smart and yet you're **so** dense. But we all agreed that we wouldn't mess with the situation because the Admiral nearly had a heart attack when Ooi and Abukuma got into a fight over Kitakami because Nagara couldn't keep her mouth shut._

"My time is gonna be up in 10 minutes. You want me to tell them to save some dinner for you?" Shioi thought she could at least attempt to make nice with Hachi before she left.

"I'm not really hungry. I am just going to head straight to bed when I am finished here." _I wish I could read a book, but Admiral won't allow me to use my equipment in the bath._

And so, ninety minutes later, an unbelievably bored Hachi returned from the baths and went on her way towards the living quarters. All six submarines shared a single, large room, containing three bunk beds, each with curtains. It was a big problem for all of them, but the base didn't have an infinite amount of space and the Admiral was too stingy to invest into expanding the living quarters. _If Goya could keep her voice down like Yuu…_ _at least those two don't make their entire bunk shake like a Christmas tree during an earthquake. Shioi really needs to learn how to hold back_.

Getting back to her room, nobody was there, but that suited Hachi just well. She really didn't want company right now. After how many tours of Orel she had behind her, she was a veteran among the veteran ships on the base. For her to get hit like this… she felt a little bit ashamed. Even though it was basically Iku's fault that she had been there to take the hit in the first place. And then she had gotten scolded by the Admiral, too.

Laying down in bed wearing just her school swimsuit, she never really wore anything else because it was a hassle to change clothes when she wasn't on scheduled vacation, she pulled a book from below her pillow and flipped through the pages until she hit a bookmark. A romance novel about a group of high school girls commandeering a destroyer.

Hearing the others approach in the hallway, Hachi pulled her curtains close and turned on the small lamp mounted onto the frame of the lower bunk. She just wanted to focus on her book this evening. There would be time to lecture Iku a little tomorrow. During yet another Orel Cruise. _I really wish Admiral would deploy us somewhere else. Anywhere. Maybe not the northern seas though. My skin always gets all tingly from the cold water._

But the others she heard approaching were not the submarine girls. Reading in peace for a while, Hachi eventually felt her eyes grow heavy. The boredom she had endured in the bath had made her sleepy and the earlier sortie had left her exhausted, mentally. She had been hurt so badly, Yuu and Shioi had to carry her back. If she had subbed in for anyone but Iku, she would have been unbelievably pissed. But Iku was… special. She… looked up to her? No, that was not quite it. She respected her? That wasn't quite it either. But she cared about her. Maybe it was because the others were all paired up and she and Iku were the only ones that weren't.

The words in the book became poorly outlined as her eyelids continued to become heavier and heavier. Putting the book aside, next to her pillow, Hachi pulled on the tiny metal cord attached to her lamp and turned off the light. Taking her glasses off, folding them and putting them on top of the book, Hachi was ready to sleep. Turning to the side, sliding one hand beneath her pillow, Hachi pulled the sheets over her shoulders and closed her eyes. Tomorrow was another day, another sortie.

It was cold all around her. There was little light. Shouting in the distance, voices filled with concern, panic and shock. The cold was now starting to fill her chest. _Ah… I know what this is_. It was something all ship girls recognized.

She was sinking. The cold water was filling her lungs. She couldn't scream, couldn't reach out for help. Far above there were tiny colorful dots in the water. Her friends. Screaming, shouting. About to come after her. But she was sinking too fast. The light above her was fading, the surface moving further and further away. She was never going to see the base again. She was never going to go home again.

 _So this is… the embrace of death. Sinking… means death. I won't ever see Imuya, Goya, Shioi or Yuu again. And… I won't ever see or talk to Iku again._

There was no more light above her. Just the cold water, holding her firm in her grasp. Her chest was so full. She couldn't breathe anymore. It became difficult to see. The colorful dots were gone and no more voices reached her. _I'm… I'm scared. I always went into battle, firing torpedoes at the abyss ships… and every time when I got hurt, I thought… I can still fight. I can still fight! But I can't fight anymore… I lost. I'm… I'm so afraid… I don't want to die… I don't want to die! It's so cold! I can't breathe! Save me… save me, save… me… please… save me…_

 _I'm here!_ From far above, reaching into the depths of the dark blue, a golden chain reached her, dangling in front of her, wrapping itself around her waist.

Waking up from her nightmare, Hachi found herself still wrapped in that golden chain. A chain strangely made of flesh and snoring somewhat loudly into her ear. _I don't believe this. Iku, how many times are you going to sneak into my bed?_ A little irritated with Iku, and herself for having such a stupid nightmare, Hachi resolved herself to kicking Iku out of bed… and did nothing.

She couldn't quite put her finger on it but Iku hugging her like this, from behind and sharing her warmth, was calming in a strange way. She cared for Iku but… wasn't it going too far for her to sneak into her bed like this? This was not the first time either. She did it almost every time after they switched shifts and every time she experienced this exact dilemma. _Just what is wrong with me? It's not… like I like Iku the same way Yuu likes Goya or Imuya likes Shioi. Am I soft on her because I know she's a good girl that just doesn't like to work as hard as she could? That she cares for me?_

While Hachi was having an internal conflict, Iku stopped snoring. Not because her breathing normalized but because she was awake now. She might not have been the brightest bulb in the shed but she understood her own feelings better than anyone. _I got Hachi hurt again… This is the third time in the last two months alone… I shouldn't even be doing this… I don't deserve to smell her wonderful scent, lie with her in the same bed and touch her amazing body… I always cause her inconvenience, bother her and she even got hurt because of me. It's a miracle she doesn't kick me out of her bed_.

Iku, still pretending to be asleep, hugged Hachi a little tighter, inadvertently rubbing her breasts against the blonde's small back. _If only she knew how I feel… I can't tell her, because… I don't deserve her. Of all of us submarines, she's the sexiest, smartest, most capable, most experienced… she should be like our leader and I always get her into trouble. But I can't help myself! She's so pretty, her voice is so sexy, and she always, always takes care of me… I'm just not good enough for her, not yet. But I will be! I'll be the MVP many, many times, I'll become super capable and the strongest of us all and then I'll confess and she'll accept because I'll finally be like her!_ Iku was dealing with a complex contradiction of feelings in her own, straightforward way.

"Iku?" Hachi couldn't turn around without pushing Iku away, but she figured that maybe she could just wake her, get her to go back to her own bed. But inside, she half wanted Iku to remain asleep, oblivious to what she thought she should want.

And sure enough, Iku pretended not to hear, quietly pretending to sleep, holding on to Hachi, sure that her pretense was foolproof. _Hachi is such a good girl that she would never kick another girl out of her bed_

And Hachi just let it pass. She felt somewhat at peace with Iku at her back, but also strangely… anxious. _I don't feel that way about Iku. I am pretty sure of that. It's so… so… unwahrscheinlich… that I like her like that, isn't it? She slacks so often, she sneaks into by bed, violating my personal space and she's loud… why am I trying to find a reason to not like her?_ Hachi felt a strong headache coming on. _Why am I so confused?_

Letting it go and trying to go back to sleep, Hachi was started to get turned on a little. Even if she didn't like Iku that way, she couldn't deny the allure of her body. She was a little frustrated, hearing Yuu and Goya in particular almost every night. Since ship girls were really that, girls, exclusively, and the Admiral was a woman as well, enforced by regulations to avoid sexual motivation, there was really only one way to enjoy romance and intimacy; with another girl. Ship girls really didn't mind this at all, however.

 _Maybe I wouldn't be so frustrated if I just had sex with Iku, maybe even regularly. But… that's not me. I don't like this whole casual sex thing that some of the others have going on. Like Junyou and Musashi. Even though they are dating other ships… I don't want to just have sex, I want something real. A real relationship… like Mutsu and Nagato have… they even married…_

Feeling sleep come over her again, Hachi hated how indecisive she was, how she couldn't just let go of her high standards. _Maybe… I should spend… a little more time… with… her…_ Yawning softly, Hachi fell back asleep.

But Iku wasn't asleep. She had far less inhibitions than Hachi did, and she wasn't above getting a little bit of touchy-feely in advance. Even though she felt bad about causing Hachi to get hurt, even though she couldn't consciously imagine Hachi accepting her feelings, she couldn't ignore how **she** felt about Hachi, how much she was craving to touch her.

Waiting until Hachi's breathing was calm, slow and deep, Iku slowly moved her hands up, a little bit at a time, waiting each time for a few seconds, checking if Hachi didn't wake up. She could feel the underside of Hachi's breasts against the top of her hand and it was turning her on already. _Hachi's cute butt against my hips… her big breasts… her beautiful blonde hair that smells like the base in summer…_ _I want to be good enough for you soon… I wanna…_ Iku reached over Hachi's breasts, touching the small armband with miniature torpedoes on her left arm. The metal was slightly warm, a lot colder than Hachi's hot skin, and Iku enjoyed the sensation of the metal grazing her fingers.

Iku's fingers skirted around Hachi's curves, just over the smooth swimsuit, the sides of her breasts, the little nobs that disturbed the tag sewn on her chest. _She's so beautiful… none of us can even compare. I'm so lucky Goya likes Yuu and Imuya likes Shioi… but I can't do nothing! I gotta work hard and become a super submarine worthy of being Hachi's girlfriend._

The blue haired submarine wanted to strip Hachi, to feel her boobs, grope her all night long, to bury her face between those beautiful mounds, stare into her green eyes before she kissed her. _I love her so much… so much, so much, so much, so much…_ Moaning quietly, getting hot just from touching Hachi at all, Iku felt a tear run down her cheek. _And I got her hurt… again. I'll never be able to confess like this..._

Enduring how horny she was as self-inflicted punishment, Iku went back to just hugging Hachi, trying to sleep. But her alluring smell, the quiet breathing sounds of the girl she loved so much, those things kept her awake. It had been so long since she had fallen in love with Hachi and she had discovered so many more things she loved about her, and she still remembered the moment she first fell for her. That moment when the worn down Admiral, after seventeen hours of non-stop sending fleets, welcomed Hachi to the base. The moment she first came out of the water, still wet, her hair sticking to her back and shoulders, a blonde angel that was just oozing the smart and refined look. Iku's heart had never stopped beating that night.

Ever since then, every little thing Hachi did just caught Iku's attention. She was so in love, she would sink for Hachi. And still, she always got Hachi into trouble. _I just want her to notice me… even though I'm her senpai, if only by a little bit. I want her to pull my cheeks, to drag me around, tell me I should work harder…_ Slowly drifting away to the lands of sleep, Iku held on to Hachi like she was the most precious thing in the world. Because to Iku, she was.

"I really wish Admiral wouldn't work us so hard." Hachi knew this area of the ocean almost meter for meter. She must have seen it thousands of times. "I'm impressed the abyss still sends patrols here."

"They just don't know any better!" Iku was glad that the Admiral had picked her to go on patrol today. Even if the patrolling itself was very, very boring, any time she could spend with Hachi was the best use of time she could imagine.

Hachi was leading the group and Iku was about three meters behind her, ogling her butt. Behind Iku was Goya and beyond her, Yuu, the most recent addition to the submarine group. Goya waved Yuu up. They were already on their way back, having blasted the final line of defense of the abyss forces to pieces. "Trouble?" Yuu was a very soft spoken individual and Goya liked that about her.

"No, no. Look at Iku. She's ogling Hachi again. Her butt isn't **that** pretty." Goya liked to chat about the love affairs in the base and with how many ships Admiral kept around, there was always something to talk about.

"Why doesn't she confess?" Yuu didn't really understand Japanese ships too well. Outside of Eugen and the other ships from Germany, the only one she really talked to was her girlfriend, Goya.

"Maybe she did and Hachi turned her down. She's got that unapproachable air about her, you see? With her hat, those pretty girl glasses and those crazy curves. Total bombshell but super unapproachable, that's why Shioi went for Imuya, not her."

"Shioi liked Hachi?" Yuu was a little oblivious to all the romantic happenings at the base. Goya just loved to have her ears everywhere and trade the saucy bits of information for other saucy bits.

"Shioi's heart is so fickle, the ocean is like a concrete block compared." Goya loved gossip. "I was pretty sure she liked you, me and Hachi before settling for Imuya and I actually think she's got a thing with Taigei in secret."

Yuu on the other hand didn't like gossip at all. She usually would just listen to Goya talk. But she was consciously uncomfortable with Goya gossiping about other submarines. "You said we could get something to eat after we get back."

"And when Akashi found out that Kongou- what? Oh, right. Do you want to get okonomiyaki?" Goya had only **one** kind of food she didn't like.

While the conversation between the pair shifted to food, Hachi slowed down and let Iku catch up. "You did good in the last two engagements. Did something good happen?" Hachi was very sharp in all matters didn't directly involve emotions. But she was also surprisingly dense when it came to those emotions.

"Iku's just in a really good mood!" _Because Iku's deploying with Hachi_. Speaking, and even thinking, of herself in the third person was a nervous tick that always manifested when going or being on missions. Because she got yelled at quite a bit by the Admiral in her early days of service, she unintentionally used it when the Admiral talked to her, too.

"Well, I am sure it is your good mood that saved us a volley of depth charges because you blew up that light cruiser for us. Thank you." Hachi was always polite to everyone on mission, especially on mixed class missions, and Iku was no exception.

Iku blushed furiously and swam ahead, hugging the last of her torpedoes. _Hachi praised me, praised me, praised me, praised me, praised me…_ Iku swam right up towards the surface and, like a dolphin, sprung out of the water and crashed back into it.

 _She must be in a really good mood. Or maybe she is showing off_. _Nobody would be that excited to get praised a little for doing a good job._ Swimming up to where Iku was, Hachi grabbed her ankle. "Calm down. We are not completely safe yet. Admiral would be furious of she knew we broke surface for fun."

"Admiral… furious..." Iku's mood took a nosedive. Their Admiral was very passionate, very supportive of relationships between ships but also to be feared when she got angry.

"I heard this from Maya a while ago, but when everyone first came to rescue me, Admiral was so angry in the end that she threw her desk through the window and sat on the floor, in the cold because the fleet kept retreating."

"I know." Iku still remembered that. "It was even worse when everyone went to rescue Isokaze… Mamiya was so worried, she closed the shop and tended to Admiral's health because she kept losing her temper."

"But for all her shouting and cussing, we always win. Everyone at the base works really hard. Maybe you could learn a thing or two from them and stop slacking. I would appreciate it if you did as well as today every day."

" **I'll do my very best!** " Iku shouted suddenly, so loudly that Hachi backed away and dropped her spatial displacement device, her book. But Iku grabbed it by displaying absolutely insane reflexes. "Here!" Returning the book to Hachi, Iku felt like she was swimming through air, not water. _Hachi cares about me! She want's me to work harder! And nobody asked her to say it!_

Swimming back downward, Hachi had Iku follow her. They were now in safe waters, where not even the most brave of the abyss would really dare come. Making it back to the base, the entire complex was ripe with buzz over the cherry blossom festival. It was the third time that Hachi experienced it now, and she always enjoyed the games, food and stands that the other ships put on. This time around, the submarines were doing a special diving tour. Ships could get into a sealed reinforced plastic sphere and the submarines, two at a time, would take it underwater, like a diving tour for ships that couldn't dive.

"Oh, the festival is tomorrow. I guess that's why Admiral worked us so hard the last couple of days!" Iku was still in a very good mood. Getting out of the water at the docks, they had a ladder there that extended all the way to the sea floor in case of emergencies, Iku grabbed one of the towels from the containers that was placed right there. Not even submarines liked to stay wet after their work was done.

Hachi grabbed a towel was well, took off her small hat, put the towel over her glistening hair and put the hat **over** the towel. It looked silly but it beat carrying the hat around like a wet cloth. Goya and Yuu immediately headed off to help with a bit of construction work for the battleships. They were doing some sort of crazy pseudo sumo, where only attacking with butts and breasts was allowed, on a floating island and they had to somehow chain it to the bottom of the ocean.

"I totally wanna do that tomorrow." Iku thought the battleships had some great ideas. "Oh, this reminds me! Yamato wanted to ask if she's going to be okay with our tour because she's a bit heavy."

"A **bit** heavy," Hachi repeated with emphasis on an important part. "We'll definitely need four of us for her. We should probably split into groups. Battleships, three of us, everything else should be light enough for us to handle with just two. Yamato and Musashi definitely need four of us." Hachi had done most of the planning which meant she was freed from most of the physical labor of preparing the actual thing. Akashi had manufactured the spheres after Yuu had asked her with puppy eyes, on Goya's request, and Shioi and Imuya had done the scouting for a scenic route.

Goya and Iku had handled the explanations for the other ships, making sure they all knew there was absolutely no risk of sinking or anything like that. Hachi was looking forward to showing off the depths of the ocean to the other ships. Because of the sun, they would only open for business in the afternoon and had plenty of time to check out other things.

"Want to go and check out what the others are preparing?" Hachi asked out loud and only then realized that this sounded like the invitation to a date. But she didn't really feel all that bad about it. A date was just a date, there was no real commitment to it. Girls went on dates all the time.

"Sure!" Iku grabbed Hachi's hand. If it was a date, and this had to be a date, then holding hands was mandatory!

Watching the battleships set up their event, Iku nearly fell over laughing when Kongou got in the way of construction several times and Ise eventually snapped, throwing Kongou right into the ocean, an almost hysterical Akashi immediately throwing safety lines after the battleship. "Iku… calm… down… that's not very… funny… she could be… seriously… hurt..." Hachi had to use absolutely one hundred percent of her willpower to not burst into laughing as well because Kongou had screamed _**desu~**_ as she went flying.

Getting away from the battleships before they would laugh themselves into an early grave, Hachi and Iku went to check out other places. The aircraft carriers were all hunched over a lot of tables in the big hangar, modifying old and decommissioned aircraft for a fireworks show in the evening. Just when Hachi and Iku passed by, Soryuu and Hiryuu supplied the others with tea. All of them had huge black bags under their eyes. They hadn't sortied in a week and yet their morale was as low as could be, now that it was crunch time.

"I think Zuikaku is dead." Iku pointed at the green haired carrier and how she was just lying halfway on a table with her eyes open.

"She is probably just sleeping with her eyes open. The aircraft carriers always put more on their plate than they can handle." Hachi realized the potential for a joke that comment had. "Which is quite a surprise, considering how much Akagi can eat."

"Compared to her, we're super efficient!" Iku was proud of how little she and the other submarines consumed. Even though that resulted in them being used for almost all the daily goals the Admiralty set for the admiral.

"I didn't see any of the light carriers." Hachi and Iku walked past the hangar and into the main building where mostly destroyers and cruisers, light and heavy alike, were running around, carrying boxes and various items for the events tomorrow.

"Looks like the heavy cruisers will be putting together the food stalls this year. Last year it was the light cruisers." Hachi still remembered how overworked those girls had been. At some point, Nagato and Mutsu had started to help out because girls during a big event, a festival, just ate a lot.

Reaching one of the larger rooms in the base, a command center for large scale missions that was empty most of the time, Tenryuu blocked the entrance. "Hey, where do you think you're going? This is off-limits until tomorrow!"

"What are you doing in there?" Iku tried to peek but could not really see anything inside. It was almost pitch black dark in there.

"Fufufu, you curious? It's a surprise! A secret! You can't know!"

"It's a haunted house, isn't it?`" Hachi hit the nail on the head, judging by Tenryuu's flustered look.

"N-No. W-Well, yes it is, but it'll be super scary! Fufufu, you'll be super scared!"

Tenryuu felt a chilling presence behind her and stood up straight and perfectly still. "T-Tatsuta?"

"What could you be doing out here instead of helping putting up the tables and chairs inside? I wonder. _Fufufu,_ " Tatsuta imitated her partner and then pinched her ear. "If you two will excuse us. I need to have a talk with Tenryuu about work morale."

"N-No! Help! Help me!" Tenryuu winced for help and was dragged into the dark room.

Hachi immediately covered Iku's ears and slowly pushed her away from the entrance. _I better not let her hear Tenryuu's dying screams_.

Finishing their little tour, and date, when they arrived back at their room, Shioi was inside, looking like she had been running missions non-stop. "Oh… hey… mission go okay?" She was almost like a ghost.

"What happened to you?" Hachi couldn't think of anything that would have caused such a physical drain on Shioi. Among all the submarines, she was by far the physically most able. Something that came with being the tallest in this case.

"Ooyodo wanted me to double and triple check the entire route and had me present the entire time when she checked the security of the spheres with Akashi… did you know Akashi can talk for more than ten minutes without stopping for air?" Shioi just wanted to go to sleep. "Can you close the curtain? I am so tired, I can't even get up."

Iku moved up to the bunk that belonged to Shioi and Imuya and closed the curtain of the lower bunk. "Good night!" She didn't really ask many questions when someone asked her to do something.

"We should probably go to sleep soon as well." Hachi was not that tired yet but there was a lot of playing around on the list for tomorrow and a lot of work in the afternoon. They didn't have to carry equipment but they would have to put in a lot of physical effort.

"We can't go out and look at some of the preparations?" Iku was not really the type that could just go to sleep. She was too excited to continue her date with Hachi. It was, in her mind, her reward for doing really well on the mission. It was almost too good a reward, but she would work extra hard tomorrow to make up for it!

"I don't want to run out of energy in the middle of carrying Yamato." Hachi took off the towel that she had kept on the entire time and hung it from a metal bar that was attached to the side of the bunk. It was there specifically for this purpose. Her clothes had dried out as well. After being in the water, she always got cold legs after because of her stockings. Getting into bed while they were still a little damp would probably annoy Mamiya, but she was serious about sleeping early for the event tomorrow. "Actually… we haven't had dinner yet."

 _A dinner date!_ Iku thought the day couldn't get any better than this. "Let's go!"

The cafeteria was a battlefield like none other. Destroyers were running around, Mamiya was about to split into four and to everyone's worry, Yamashiro, Fusou, Mutsu and Taihou were in the kitchen, helping out Mamiya. There was a lot of food that had to be prepared in advance and packaged, especially sweets like cookies and such. There was no way for anyone to have regular dinner in that place. Hachi was about to turn away, retreat back the way she came, when a familiar face spotted her. "Hachi, over here! Here!"

Mogami waved them over. "We made a temporary dinner station out back, next to the hangar. My sisters are cooking. I don't make any guarantees on the taste, especially if you get Kumano's curry, but you can at least get something to eat there."

"Thank you." Hachi tried to pull Iku away but found the blue haired submarine to be gone. "Iku?" Looking around, she found her standing next to Kako, who had just recently received her second remodel along with her sister. "Iku!" Shouting through the chaos didn't really make anyone suspicious. There was plenty of shouting going on between the almost forty ship girls that were in and out of the cafeteria.

"I'll definitely come by!" Iku had heard Hachi and waved Kako goodbye as she ran off. "Kako, Furutaka, Aoba and Kinugasa are putting together a stand to sell Borscht tomorrow!"

"Borscht? The Russian dish? I would have expected Hibiki to be involved in something like that, not those heavy cruisers." Hachi walked with Iku, without holding hands now.

"I didn't ask. Maybe they got the recipe from her?" Passing through the cafeteria and straight into the hangar, Zuikaku was just being woken up with a bucket of water. They were behind schedule, Hachi caught in passing.

Exiting the hangar and making it to the food station, they had the choice between curry and pasta. Hachi liked German food but neither choice was particularly German so she went for pasta, taking Mogami's warning seriously.

Iku got a large serving of curry instead, having not heard any warning. Sitting down by the water, they were still at the docks after all, and eating, Iku wolfed down her curry so fast that Hachi was barely half done when her friend went to get seconds.

Returning with more curry, Iku caught Hachi's curious look and, without asking, shoved a large spoonful of curry into Hachi's mouth. It was sweet and sour curry, which was not quite to Hachi's taste but she thought that Mogami's warning was unwarranted. "This is not bad."

"Can I taste the pasta?" Iku's question parsed as intended with Hachi.

 _She wants me to feed her, not eat pasta. I… guess I can do it_. Hachi didn't really believe in stuff like indirect kisses and such, and even if she did, she was close enough to Iku that a kiss or two was not really all that tragic.

Feeding Iku from her fork, some of the sauce spilled back on Hachi's cheek and Iku immediately moved in to get rid of it. But she was blocked by Hachi's book, which connected right with Iku's face. Hachi had reacted before her brain parsed what was happening and now she wondered why she hit Iku in the face with her book. _Am I… embarrassed?_

"Ow, ow, ow…" Iku rubbed her cheek. _I guess I went overboard. We're not a couple so… I shouldn't try to do couple things._

"I apologize. That was a bit much." Hachi focused on her pasta and felt bad. _What would have been the big deal, letting her get the sauce off my cheek?_ Hachi didn't understand why she reacted with such strong rejection to Iku. She was confident that she wouldn't have reacted as strongly with someone else, treating it as a minor inconvenience at best.

"It's fine! Fine! I got a little carried away. Sorry, sorry." _Stupid Iku… Stupid, stupid Iku!_ The submarine scolded herself, feeling so bad that her nervous tick showed up.

"Lately I have been having nightmares of sinking because Admiral is working us a little too hard. I cannot afford to have one tonight and wake up more tired than when I go to sleep, so… you are welcome to sleep with me tonight."

"You're… not bothered by it?"

"The nightmares tend to stay away from me whenever I find you in my bed. You must be luckier than everyone thinks. Or maybe you are just a lucky charm of mine." Hachi found it surprisingly easy to flirt with Iku like this. Because flirting it clearly was. Scarily easy, almost. It called in doubt her feelings, the ones she was so sure of.

Iku dropped her spoon, her face lighting up like the carrier fireworks. "Really? Really, really, for serious really?!"

"Maybe I should change my mind." Hachi looked away, visibly embarrassed by this outburst of happiness. _Isn't she **too** happy about this? She sneaks into my bed all the time anyway…_

"Please don't! Iku is really happy you trust her with the security of your dreams!"

"Well, finish your curry. We'll get plenty sleepy when digestion sets in." Hachi was glad that their event was not something that took up hours and hours of preparing the day before the festival. She figured that most of the heavier ships would be hard pressed to find some sleep.

"Take this! 36Cm butt cannon, desu!" Kongou twisted her waist and hit Nagato with the full impact of her butt. But the slow battleship didn't even budge. "No effect, desu?!"

And without delay, Nagato's retaliation catapulted Kongou into the shallow water. It was a meter deep, a highly durable steel net beneath the shaking platform.

Iku and Hachi were watching together, eating grilled octopus from Takao's stand, which was aptly named Takao's Tako-o, much to the dismay of anyone unfortunate to read the name.

It was ten thirty now, they still had plenty of time before they opened services. They were almost booked for the entire period of their operations already. Imuya was maintaining a list. "This seems like a lot of fun." Hachi could see herself going up against some of the destroyers, possibly a light cruiser, but the others were all far too tall and heavy for her. She didn't think about fighting Iku because she had been overly conscious of Iku's sex appeal the entire morning. _Of all the times to develop interest in her…_

"Let's go and check out the light cruiser's haunted house plus cake shop!" Iku was raring to go and she had a secret weapon. "I heard they got Eugen to help out and make some stollen, but they'll be gone in-" Iku could not even finish her line before Hachi bolted, holding Iku's hand tight within her own, dragging her through the numerous ship girls that were coming to see the swimsuit battle between battleships. This early in the morning it was still demonstration time and to the amusement of almost everyone but Hiei, who was aroused instead, Kongou served as a punching bag. Iowa in particular enjoyed smashing her breasts into Kongou's and pushing her off the platform.

The haunted house was experiencing a bit of slow business because of the battleship's event which suited Hachi just well. They soared through the haunted part, much to the dismay of vampire Akatsuki, who was helping out, and zombie pirate Tenryuu, who thought herself to be so scary she avoided looking in any mirrors.

Reaching the center of the room, a chandelier shaped like a pumpkin was hanging from the ceiling, illuminating three tables that were being waited. Food was being brought in through a secret passage from next door because they couldn't cook anything inside the actual haunted house.

Ikazuchi and Inazuma were waiting tables in adorable outfits, one a mummy the other one an abyss girl. "Oh, more submarines, welcome, welcome, come on in!" Ikazuchi was free after having just brought the other subs their meal. "What can we torture you with on this most depraved of all days?" Ikazuchi lowered her voice. "The food is really good, don't worry, just part of the setting 'n all!"

"I'd like some Stollen." Hachi didn't even wait for Ikazuchi to hand her a menu.

"Oh, a lady that knows about our secret menu item!" Ikazuchi smirked and turned to Iku. "What about you, oh mortal visitor?"

"Devil King Red Doom Soup." Iku felt **almost** embarrassed saying that name out loud.

"As you demand." Ikazuchi hissed, and both subs wondered if mummies were supposed to hiss, and then staggered away. "Monkey Paw! One Doom soup and one Hakenkreuz Kuchen!" They could still hear her shout behind the curtains.

"Tenryuu must have come up with these menu names." Hachi couldn't imagine a single person that wouldn't have been embarrassed by these names.

"They're a lil' bit embarrassing to say." Iku was embarrassed after all. "What does Hakenkreuz Kuchen mean?"

"During the old war, the German flag had something they called the Hakenkreuz on it. It's a bit… worrying they called it that. It's an illegal symbol in Germany, Eugen said. Tenryuu is probably going to get really chewed out if Bismarck complains to Mutsu or Nagato."

"And Kuchen?"

"That just means cake. Stollen is a type of cake. The most fabulous, fantastic cake in the world other than Baumkuchen." Hachi had quite the sweet tooth.

"Your entrapment in our realm will be eternal, mortals." Ikazuchi returned with the stollen. Inazuma was also on her way with the soup.

Hachi was about to partake when someone poked the top of her right shoulder. It was Goya. "Don't worry about the soup, just looks like blood. Taste's a bit like spicy chicken ramen, just better."

Iku almost didn't recognize her because she was wearing an exact duplicate of Yuu's clothes. "Where did you get that?"

"The Mutsuki-class and Kagerou-class are working together to make copies of outfits on demand and super fast. I saw the Sendai's walking around in Agano-class clothes earlier. Super cute!" Goya was temporarily suspending her gossip engine to enjoy her date with Yuu. "I wanted to make Yuu wear my clothes but she was too embarrassed."

"Bully." Yuu let herself be pushed around by Goya a lot but she wouldn't budge on wearing something as skimpy and revealing as that school swimsuit.

"The outfits are a lil' expensive though." All ship girls were paid in base currency, silver coins, that they could use to buy food or sweets at Mamiya's. It was less an allowance and more a salary though.

"We were already wearing the same, so I don't think there is much sense in us going there. But just in case, where do they have their shop?"

"Next to Admiral's office." Goya lowered her voice, bent halfway over her chair. "You could make Iku wear some stockings. I'd bet she'd look hot in that." Goya's engine started up again when Hachi blushed at the suggestion.

Yuu kicked Goya's chair from under the table, causing the pink haired girl to nearly topple over if not for Hachi pushed her back. "Whew, thanks."

While Goya complained to Yuu, Hachi finally got around to her stollen. And it was divine. Just the right type of nuts, spices and flavor of dough to make it authentically German. Feeling like her tongue was melting, Iku had finished her soup and ordered the next menu item, Death Lightning Spiral Tower Crash Catastrophe. Which was just mashed bananas with chocolate sauce, cream and some other fruits.

Eating in peace, the three Sendai-class cruisers came in to take up their regular shift, relieving Ikazuchi, Akatsuki and Inazuma from their posts. "Oh, subs. Hi ho!" Naka was very friendly with everyone but she also had a bad habit of calling people by their class designation.

Going for a second piece of stollen, Jintsu, the mummy, brought it up her, while Iku tried out the final menu item. Lord of Hell Mixed Guts Of One Trillion Ritual Suicides. Turned out to be meat, potatoes, carrots, all well cooked and with a bunch of tasty broth.

Nobody carried money on them directly because ship girls usually didn't have pockets in their clothing so everything went through Ooyodo. Leaving, Tatsuta asked them at the exit what they had. She was dressed as an angel, which was the only genuinely terrifying thing in the entire haunted house cafe.

Imuya had tracked them down just then, telling them they had to open earlier than planned because they couldn't handle the workload otherwise. Asking them where Goya and Yuu were, Iku ratted them out without hesitation.

Not ten minutes later, Iku and Hachi jumped into the cold and wet embrace of the ocean, floating right next to a large plastic sphere, one of three. The first group to visit were Tone and Chikuma, both second remodel. "Is this really gonna hold? I don't like the idea of drowning." Tone was being pushed into this by her sister, who had quietly threatened her with withholding sex for a month if she refused to get on the submarine tour with her.

Closing up the sphere at the top, Chikuma was instructed to turn the valve on the inside, locking the sphere up tight. Small floodlights were mounted to the sphere and each submarine had two as well. "Taking off." Hachi announced and both subs pulled on the metal handles attached to the side of the spheres.

Tone was frightened by the water getting higher and higher around her until they were completely underwater. But once she saw that not a single drop was getting in, she relaxed. Pulling the sphere away from the docks, Hachi and Iku followed the route they had practiced so many times.

Hachi was more focused on Iku than on the scenery she had seen so many times. The Tone-class sisters seemed to really enjoy it however. _Iku is doing pretty well. I think she might almost be pulling the sphere on her own. I was worried she might get cramps because she went swimming so quickly after eating but it looks like I worried over nothing_.

Taking the sisters the entire tour, which was a fifteen minute way that ended back at the docks, Tone and Chikuma were completely amazed by the world beneath the sea. "I still don't wanna sink but at least I know it's not cold and lonely down there! There's so much life!"

"Glad you enjoyed it!" Iku waved enthusiastically but the sisters were already on their way to their next goal. Goya and Yuu, and Shioi and Imuya, were both currently on tour and the next guests were already approaching. Kirishima and Roma.

Hachi was sure that Goya would have something to say about those two but she liked to stay out of other people's affairs. If Kirishima and Roma had a thing, that was their business. If they didn't and just went checking out the events together, the same.

"I'm sorry but to carry two battleships, we need at least three submarines here. You will have to wait until either pair returns." Hachi was not going to risk sinking battleships.

"Do we wait?`" Kirishima just asked Roma completely normally.

"How long is it gonna take?" Roma wanted to go and visit the pasta booth that the ships from her homeland were running. Italia was out with Haruna, and she had no idea where they were, but she had to find them at some point. They had to take over for Zara and Pola at some point.

"I think they left shortly after we did, so they should be back in a few minutes at most." Hachi dove underwater and looked in the distance, seeing Shioi and Imuya return with Kitakami and Ooi, who looked like they were on the verge of making out in the sphere.

Emerging on the surface again, Hachi smiled at Kirishima. "The others are just coming in. One moment please."

"I'm… so beat..." Iku thought she had never swum so much her entire life, not even during difficult and strenuous campaigns. It was almost time for the carriers to launch their fireworks now. "Hachi… are you okay?"

The blonde submarine was leaned against a large metal post mounted to the floor of the docks. She had suffered a near death experience earlier when Musashi decided to board a sphere together with Junyou. They had needed all six of them to properly pull them. Luckily, the festival lasted for two days and they had taken care of almost the entire base personnel today. The second day was a lot more relaxed, with little events and just a lot of food stands and the likes.

"I am fine. But really tired. I just want to go to sleep and get up early tomorrow." Hachi had forgotten that the fireworks were about to be fired and before she could

"Maybe… you could come see the fireworks with Iku first?"

"Sure. It would be a shame to miss it." Hachi got back on her feet and barely had time to turn around before Iku grabbed her arm. _This is… not what I had in mind. But her hands are strangely warm and soft… and pleasant._ Hachi was too clever to not realize what was really happening with her. The way she kept denying things, looked for excuses and reasons. How she was overly aware of Iku's looks and her lovable quirks.

 _I guess visiting Germany once is not enough to break a pattern. I suppose I'll at least ask Iku how she feels about me before I tell her._ Hachi was far less surprised and nervous than she thought she would be. _I thought I would be really shaken if I ever fell in love. But I don't really feel that different. I was already really conscious of Iku's looks all day today so… Maybe this is just how things are meant to be. No great dramatic climax of an epic tale, in a stormy battlefield, holding a heavily damaged Iku in my hands, confessing undying love to her. Just her and me, right here, about to watch fireworks together, enjoying the time we have together_.

Walking along the docks with Iku at her arm, Hachi wondered how Iku might feel. Was there a deeper reason behind Iku crawling into her bed, behind being so happy? _There has to be. Iku might look like a dunce to those that don't know her, but she is much smarter than she pretends to be. I must have been averting my eyes really hard. Crawling into my bed, holding my hand, getting excited over everything I say and then the attempt to lick the pasta sauce off my cheek. I guess I won't even have to ask if these feelings are mutual_.

They got past the hangar, where a large camp fire was burning, Ise and Hyuuga roasting some kind of huge slab of meat over open fire. A lot of the older ship girls were sitting down around the docks on small carpets and mats, enjoying a drink together, holding hands and cuddling, waiting for the show to begin. Shops were closed now and it was time for the day to phase out with something relaxing and breathtaking at the same time.

Finding a spot for themselves, atop a large wooden crate, Hachi sat next to Iku, both of them on the edge of the crate, their legs a little ways off the ground. "We really worked hard today." Hachi was glad that it had all worked out.

"I was so scared when Musashi asked to have Junyou come with her!" Iku was nervous but not the kind that triggered her nervous tick. It was the good kind of nervous because she could sense that something about Hachi was changed, that she was more welcoming than before.

"It was a huge problem when the entire Myoukou class wanted to ride together. They're still a lot lighter than our battleships but… they're **heavy** cruisers for a reason."

"I'm glad we worked together today." Iku was less loud, less overbearing than usual, her mind settling into the low-key mood that permeated the atmosphere around them. _Maybe… maybe I should try telling her how I feel. But… but what if she turns me down?_

And with a roaring whistling sound, the first of the modified planes was launched high into the air by Unryuu, the one with excellent control. Exploding into a giant yellow sparkle, Hachi got a little closer to Iku when they were both drowned in the brief darkness between the first and the second explosion.

Iku noticed this and her heart started beating like crazy. She didn't care if Hachi was just tired or wanted to enjoy the fireworks like so many of the others did. It didn't matter if they weren't together. Slowly putting her arm out, Iku was surprised when Hachi leaned against her, resting her head against Iku's shoulders. "Moments like this make all the hard work worth it." Hachi was glad that she was here with Iku, alone.

Originally opting for Hachi's shoulder, Iku put her arm around the blonde's waist instead, feeling her warm body through the swimsuit still, noticing the white stockings on her legs reaching over her knees, just within sight. _D-Do I say something?_ Iku was so nervous that she needed all the energy she had left to now start shaking.

The fireworks kept exploding one after another, a spiral chaos of lights that belonged to Akagi and Kaga, who were the first to fire off their loads. Just sitting there and doing nothing, Hachi could feel Iku's heart hammer like crazy. Her pulse was so strong that it was like her entire body was pulsating. The second volley of fireworks came out right after the first, belonging to Hiryuu and Soryuu, painting giant Chinese dragons into the sky, the explosions their roars, shimmering green and yellow.

 _There really isn't any point to being in denial any longer. I should have realized the first or second time she crawled into my bed that she felt about me this way. The same way Goya and Yuu feel about each other. I guess for all my reading and how smart everyone thinks I am, I can be a bit of a dunce. Ironic, almost, that the one they think is smart can be so dense and that the one they think is stupid knew exactly what she wanted all this time._

The third volley was now being launched, by Shoukaku and Zuikaku, majestic cranes painted into the sky in pure white. "It's so pretty." Hachi leaned against Iku even more as she put her right arm around her. "I'm sorry Iku, I'm not the type to go into fantastic analogies of beauty… I'm sure someone more artistically inclined would find a way to compare how even those fireworks pale to your beauty without saying it bluntly like this."

Iku's heart went into full overdrive and Hachi chuckled. "Your heart is beating so hard I can almost hear it. I guess it was stupid of me to keep looking for some kind of true love when the right girl was in front of me all this time."

"S-So… you love..." Iku swallowed. She almost couldn't believe what was happening. Had she secretly sunk and was now experiencing heaven? "You love… Iku?"

"It does feel that way. And I think even someone yet more dense than me would be able to tell you're ecstatic about finding that out." Hachi just stayed like she was, leaned against the now trembling Iku, her arm around the blue haired submarine's waist. And then something hit her head. Something small and wet. "Are… you crying?" Hachi tried to get a look at Iku's face without moving but it was difficult between the flashes of fireworks and the dark that surrounded them.

"Nu-uh. I'm just happy! I love you so much, Hachi! So much, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, **so~** much! I'm so happy, I could sink!" Iku didn't know what to do with herself. She had always wanted this, for Hachi to like her, and she even dreamed, fantasized, about Hachi loving her. But for it to actually happen? She had no idea what to do.

Hachi raised her head just a little and looked to the side, at Iku's face, overrun with tears. And now it was time for her to stop thinking and start following her heart alone. When the next firework volley hit, a green dragon, a white tiger and a red phoenix, she gave away her first real kiss to another girl. To Iku.

The salty taste of Iku's tear dominated her first experience of kissing Iku but it didn't bother her at all. The happiness that Iku was feeling, happiness so great and overwhelming that she shed tears, were proof to her that she did the right thing. And she felt heat on her face, not from the girl in front of her but herself. Her heart, hammering against her chest. Her lips, wet, and yet her mouth dry. The blue and yellow hair mixing together when the kiss endured, longer than the fireworks did, longer still than the next volley.

The foreign carriers were next but neither Iku nor Hachi paid any heed to the fireworks anymore. When their first kiss, wet and salty from Iku's tears, first broke, they looked at each other like they saw who they truly were for the first time.

And as the next plane flashed in the sky, the two submarines had gone, left the crate, running more so than walking towards their room. Now that their feelings were out in the open, that no more denial or insecurity stood in the way, desire and lust broke through.

Rushing into their room, they suddenly stopped. They wanted privacy, time completely alone, but they didn't know how to proceed. They had slept in the same bed before, but in a way, they were both virgins. Hachi sometimes touched herself and so did Iku, but never did they really stop to think about how to have sex with another girl, for they both looked for that to only happen with the one they couldn't see, right in front of them.

Hachi's mind came back just briefly as she walked towards her bunk, the lower one, standing in front of it, in just her swimsuit and stockings. And stand she didn't do for long. Iku stepped forward with great steps and great intentions. Pushing Hachi onto the bunk, the blonde landed on her back, intuitively crawling onto the bed entirely, a slightly coy look playing over her face.

Before she could even ask her to, Iku was on top of her, pushing her breasts against Hachi's, their swimsuits making strange noises as their fabric rubbed against each other. Iku incessantly called her name, pushing down on her, her long blue hair tickling Hachi's arms.

Even flat on her back, her breasts still stood up like steep mountains, held in place by her singular piece of clothing. And it only took some long seconds of Iku being this close before she could feel it between her legs. Grabbing Iku by her arms, Hachi pulled, as hard as she could, denting her own breasts and Iku's as well, the sensation making her lust surge to her head. She wanted more. Not just feeling Iku through that swimsuit, but all of her body, stripped bare.

Slipping the straps over her shoulders, Hachi pulled down on Iku's swimsuit, just enough to make her large breasts burst out beneath the cloth, resting bare in the warm air of their room, her pure, white skin illuminated briefly by the fireworks outside.

Iku continued what Hachi had started, slowly sliding her swimsuit down her waist, but Hachi stopped her. "That's my pleasure to have." Hachi wouldn't let Iku take this from her. Pushing the girl off herself and against the head end of the bunk, where a solid wooden wall was, Hachi pulled more on the swimsuit, until Iku had to spread her legs to let her new girlfriend and lover take it off.

With Iku suddenly naked, revealing everything to Hachi, she felt a shame and sensation of pride she had never felt before. She had laid everything bare in front of the girl she loved more than anything in the world, She had been **made** to, by that same girl.

"What are you waiting for?" Hachi put a finger to her lips, licked it and then slowly drew a wet line downward from her chin to her cleavage and over her swimsuit. She might not have experience like Goya and Shioi but she knew things.

Iku reacted immediately, pushing back Hachi, returning to their initial position, pulling her swimsuit off her arms and down her chest, her beautiful white breasts shining briefly in the blinding light of the fireworks, causing Iku to pause and admire them in all their glory. But Hachi got surprisingly easy embarrassed when she was being stared at like that. Pulling Iku by her right arm, she forced the girl just far enough to rise up and kiss her without completely getting off the bed. "Don't stare so much… Even I get embarrassed."

"A goddess shouldn't know shame!" Iku said enthusiastically and stripped Hachi down to just her stockings and that armband she liked.

And with the next flash of light from the fireworks, they stared at each other, their naked bodies, their flushed faces and the lust written boldly in their eyes. The swimsuits thrown off the bed in a hurry, the curtains pulled close, Hachi and Iku could be heard moaning almost out into the hall as their hot bodies collided, their soft, white skin smoothly sliding together.

Hachi let Iku be on top because she liked it that way. She wanted Iku to love her, to make love to her, to share every little bit of passion that she had saved for this day, this night.

"I love you, Iku!" Hachi rarely raised her voice but she didn't care to think about who might be there to listen when she loudly proclaimed her love.

"I love you more, Hachi!" Iku was even louder than her partner. "Don't let this be a dream!"

"It isn't." Hachi proved it to Iku by kissing her again, locking her legs around Iku's hips, preventing her from getting up. "A dream cannot kiss you like this." Moving her tongue cautiously into Iku's mouth, Hachi had really no idea what she was doing, steered entirely by instinct. But everything she did seemed to make Iku insanely happy, so she just kept on doing them, anything.

Iku would no longer cry, not even out of happiness. She was too focused on seeing seeing Hachi's silhouette within the confines of the curtains, seeing all of her when the fireworks lit up the sky and shone against and through the curtains that were protecting them from the rest of the world. "I won't let you sleep tonight."

And sure enough, when an hour later Goya and Yuu, the former drunk, staggered into the room, they heard Iku's muffled moaning, sitting upright on Hachi's bed, the blonde behind her, their hair hanging down wildly and haphazard, drenched in sweat, sticking to her bodies.

Hachi's hands were handling Iku's breasts masterfully, sending wave after wave of pleasure down the sweat and love covered back of the submarine. They had exhausted their voices, proclaiming their love for each other again and again for the past hour. And they would still continue until deep into the night.

"And last, today's orders for the submarines are-" Ooyodo was briefing the class representatives on orders the Admiral had issued earlier.

"More Orel cruising." Hachi knew this was coming. It had been a week since the festival and all around morale was a little low, because once the festivities were over, it was hard back to work. It had been Orel cruising every day since then.

"Goya, Imuya, Hachi, you three are assigned to the first group." Ooyodo flipped through her papers one last time. "Alternate with the second group until the mission goals are complete."

"Imuya is hung over from last nigh and Shioi is looking after her." Hachi made up an excuse on the fly. "Should I take Iku instead?"

Ooyodo sighed. This was happening a lot lately. Not just the submarines but a lot of groups had sudden inconveniences that prevented the assigned groups from going out and then a replacement had to be found. A replacement that ever so conveniently was the ship they liked. "Well then. Take Iku."

Hachi could endure even Orel cruising just fine when she was with Iku. Their relationship had blossomed, although they hadn't had sex since their first night together. Spending the whole day Orel cruising was too exhausting. _I don't know where Goya and Yuu find the energy._

Returning from the meeting, Hachi came across Goya. "The usual, today too."

"Judging your face, you're going out with Iku." Goya was constantly teasing her about it, or at least trying to. But Hachi proved to be an impenetrable fortress that Goya just couldn't break into.

"Of course I am. And sadly, you are coming with us." Hachi's cold smile annoyed Goya. "You should stick to gossip, Goya."

Iku was already at the docks, warming up and her face lit up when she saw Hachi. "Hacchan! Over here, over here!" Waving frantically towards her girlfriend, Iku smiled like a queen.

Hachi waved back. Iku had been clinging to her almost every waking moment for the past several days, but Hachi wasn't in a hurry like that. They were going to serve the Admiral together for a long time, through many campaigns. And one day, when the abyss was driven off the face of the world, maybe she'd take it to the next step with Iku.

Battle Finish.


End file.
